In the Dark was released on this day, and we had no vibe on it yet, but it was about to change the entire scene. This show was not well-traded - skipped by collectors and mostly just hissy, speedy AUDs. Except for JFK & Anaheim, the July shows do not reach the peaks of Aug & Sep, and some of Healy's mixes in Jun/Jul were atrocious. Including this one. Even a MTX won't help the poor mix (audience and drums in L channel, missing musicians), because it was also terrible FOH (in person/AUDs). Though this was during the Alone & Together tour w/Dylan, they also had solo shows booked in between those dates, meeting up with the bard again on the 10th [the killer JFK show].

First Set. Bobby's guitar is turned off to start, and then barely heard after 5mins ... for a moment. Too bad because once Jer starts wrangling with this Feel Like a Stranger, it hits X factor - onstage anyway. Whether AUDs or SBDs, you get Jer guitar, vox, one drummer, and Brent, with the rest missing. Bobby's still turned off for Franklin's, and BTW the lopsided BAL was also FOH (according to the AUDs). On New Minglewood (Iron City fillies), again there's a hint that the playing was good, but shadowed by the ungainly mix. When Bobby starts his slide solo @4:00, being turned off is a problem. Healy finally turns him on @4:30 - then turns him off again! The next couple have both Bobby and Phil missing and by this point the set's a wash. During the quiet after Big River you can hear Bobby tease See, See Rider Blues. Listening to Far from Me it's hard to believe someone in the org didn't get to the stage and notify Bobby what was happening. Stagger Lee sounds like a partial band practice starting late after a few no-shows; proving this was one of Healy's vendetta sets. When Bobby starts strumming Desolation Row and Jer plays nothing, Healy's forced to lunge for the fader and turn on Bobby's guitar to keep it from sounding even worse. Suddenly it's the Grateful Dead! We even have some Mickey and a little Phil. Of course, he can always turn him off again. Dough Knees is mid-tempo, but now Healy turns off Brent. When he takes a solo, Healy again springs for the fader, sliding him back up.

Second Set. During the break Healy had time to set a professional mix and turn everyone back on. Just kidding; Shakedown Street is still fucked up, with Bobby turned off. There IS a little Phil now. Too bad, because the guys we do get are playing well (Bobby shows up faint a couple times). Samson shines through because Jer is so ON. The Nevilles come out. You had to be there for the Iko Iko, which has too many cooks. With three guitars on stage, we can now hear two. Day-O was played again on NYE, though this is in the key of D and 31Dec is in G. Jer gets a good piece of it but you mainly just hear Art Neville and Brian Stoltz. Notes should say Willie Green (not William) on Drums. The mix finally improves at Space. Knockin' on Heaven's Door is the 1st one for the GD, though they had backed Dylan in the previous show [at much better tempo], and Jer had sung it with JGB. Nothing happens, but it gets better over the next month. Art takes a verse on Johnny B. Goode, and there are now five musicians onstage that are turned off, both AUD & SBD. Rated a little better, below, because the playing was probably good onstage.

1st Set:  C-
2nd Set: C+
Overall = 2½ stars

Highlights:
Samson & Delilah - Jer is so on you may forget the missing musicians

SOURCES: The zaleski_gems_84623 was the the 1st low gen AUD after years of poor circ. The connor_2583 is a mono AUD, intended to ease a couple of the many mix issues (the bad balance). The 142126_UltraMatrix_sbd is the newer transfer/upload of 138790_pcm_sbd_miller. Distant footage of Samson>Drums & Good Lovin>JBG is usually up on YouTube.

Much improvement to the aud imho. Fun sets...